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Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union until October 16, 1952. He was in charge during the beginning of the Cold War and pleaded the Western Allies to allow Soviet influence on Eastern Europe. He wanted the Soviet Union to determine the fate of the lands that it occupied. HS: His two goals in Eastern Europe were to spread communism throughout the area and to create a buffer of friendly governments as a defense against the country Germany. -
United Nations
The United Nations is a worldwide organization that promotes international laws, democracy, civil and human rights, and economic and social development in countries around the world. As of 2011, the United Nations has 51 member states. It replaced the League of Nations. HS: The United Nations was developed to help maintain lasting worldwide peace. -
Iron Curtain
A wall the Soviet Union built that started on the border of East and West Germany. HS: This wall divided the eastern and western part of Europe creating greater tensions between the Western powers and the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman of the United States created a new plan for his country. The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated to limit and stop communism in the Soviet-controlled areas. HS: The Truman Doctrine assured all countries that Americans would attempt to stop any Soviet expansion in any place of the world. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a program developed by the United States to help European countries rebuild their economies after World War II. The United States wanted to help renew trade, modernize factories for industry, and make countries prosper in a post-war world. HS: The United States built up this program to prevent the spread of communism from the Soviet Union. -
European Economic Cooperation
The European Economic Cooperation was a program to promote joint recovery in Europe. There are eighteen countries who stand as original members. HS: This organization offered a way for all countries to have a chance at aid, and it allowed a way for Europe to finally recover from war turmoil. -
Berlin Airlift
Stalin controlled the Western part of Germany which contained the city of Berlin. In 1948, in hopes of driving all Western Allies out of this city, he ordered a blockade, sealing the entire city off. The Allied Western powers responded to Stalin's blockade of Berlin by flying cargo planes over city to provide food and fuel to people of West Berlin. HS: The Berlin Airlift forced the Soviets into ending the blockade of Berlin. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The NATO is a military-based alliance organization. 28 states agree to provide assistance if at any time an external states attempts to attack one in the alliance. HS: This military alliance treaty would help the countries involved, but it would cause opposing countries to form the same type of alliance, causing other countries to just "pick a side". -
Peoples Republic of China
The Peoples Republic of China is a sing-party states located in the eastern part of Asia. The country is governed by the Communist party and had an uneasy alliance with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. HS: Even though they followed Gorbachev's ideas on economic reforms, the Communist government stayed strong while communist power in Eastern Europe was disappearing. -
Korean War
The Korean War was fought between South Korea, supported by the United States, and North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union and later the Republic of China. HS: This war signified a shift in the Cold War policy of the United States. -
Ho Chi Minh
He was a Communist leader of North Vietnam until September 2, 1969. He led the Vietnamese first against the French then the government of South Vietnam who was supported by the United States. He supported the Viet Cong, communist rebels trying to overthrow the South Vietnam government. HS: He was a leader determined to have the entire country of Vietnam under communist rule. -
Explosion of First Hydrogen Bomb
The United States was the first country to test the hydrogen bomb. The detonation took place at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. HS: The use of the hydrogen bomb marked a new time in nuclear warfare, a time where countries feared opposing countries more because of their nuclear technology. -
Nikita Khrushchev
Khrushchev was Stalin's successor who publicly condemned Stalin's abuse of power. He relieved the harsh censorship orders and closed all prison camps. He led the Soviet Union until October 14, 1953. HS: He wanted a "peaceful coexistence" with the Westerners. -
KGB (Committee for State Security)
The KGB was the prime security agency for the Soviet Union until 1991. Its motto was "Loyalty to the party--Loyalty to the motherland." HS: This agency assisted the Russians as a secret military police for national security and foreign knowledge. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and seven other satellite states in response to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. HS: This alliance, unlike the NATO, allowed the Soviets to keep its satellite states under control and in order. It also made a permanent the division of Europe. -
Suez Canal/ Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser was Egypt's president from June 23, 1956 to September 28, 1970. He wanted to nationalize the Suez Canal or in other words, keep it under national control. When attacking Israel, Nasser looked for Soviet aid. HS: With President Nasser nationalizing the Suez Canal, he made it impossible for the Western powers to keep control of it. Egypt's now foreign relations with the Soviet Union made the Suez Crisis a significant part of the Cold War. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite submerged into space. It served as a radio wave broadcastery and was the most modern scientific development. HS: Since rumors spread that the Soviet Union was creating a satellite to explore things outside of Earth, this triggered the Space Race between the Soviet Union and United States. -
Berlin Wall is Erected
The Berlin wall split the city of Berlin into two parts, democratic West Berlin and communist East Berlin. East Germany built this wall because many East Germans who were low-paid and unhappy with communism, fled into West Berlin. HS: The Berlin wall created major tension between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union who controlled the city of Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962, the Soviet Union sent nuclear missiles to a communist state close to the United States, Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade on the island to stop any nuclear weapons trying to enter the country. HS: The Cuban Missile Crisis is significant because this was the one point in the Cold War came close to a nuclear war. -
Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev was Nikita Khrushchev's successor. He lead the Soviet Union until November 10, 1982. He enforced obedience, like leaders before him, with military and intimidation. HS: He helped thaw the relationship between the United States and Soviet Union towards the end of the war. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a military proposal by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. The campaign included many surprise attacks in South Vietnam against the South Vietnamese, the United States, and other allies. HS: The Tet Offensive showed the Americans that the Viet Cong and North Vietnam were able to put up an intense fight which changed public opinion of them. The offensive is known as North Vietnam's greatest effort to try to win the Vietnam War. -
Helsinki Accords
This was a great diplomatic agreement between all European countries, the United States, and Canada. HS: This agreement reduced high tensions between the Western powers and the Soviet Union, and it stated that post-war Europe should stay just how it is now. -
Vietnam
Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, it was divided into two states, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. If was unified after the Vietnam War in 1976. HS: The Vietnam is important to the Cold War because of the Vietnam War which was, in a sense, a fight over a commuinst state or democratic state for the country of Vietnam. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
A group of Islamic students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran because of supporting the Iranian Revolution. They held fifty-two Americans hostage for 444 days. HS: This showed how the Iranians felt about the United States involvement in other countries, and that the Iranians felt the Americans saw the revolution as irrelevant. -
Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
The war between the Soviet Union and the mujahedin, Muslim religious warriors, lasted until February 15, 1989. The Soviets supported the Afghanistan government who was trying to bring the country to a more modernized state. HS: This nine-year war caused the Soviet Union many casualties and great expenses. The many losses of the Soviet armies struck fear in Soviet's moral. -
Moscow Olympics
This was the first Olympic Games to be held in Eastern Europe. Not all countries participated, however. Over sixty-five countries did not attend because they participated in the American-led boycott. HS: This was significant because it marked the largest boycott of a worldwide event in history. -
Los Angeles Olympics
This was the second time Los Angeles held the Olympic Games. Four years earlier, there was an an American-led boycott on the Moscow games, so the Soviet Union and 14 other Eastern bloc countries did the same in 1984. HS: This significance of this Olympic Games was that diplomatic relations between countries started affecting worldwide events that had nothing to do with diplomatic feuds. -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union that exposed the surrounding area to radiation from the plant. HS: This accident made people question if the benefits outweighed the hazards of nuclear power. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
Perestroika, meaning restructuring, Glasnost, meaning openness, were two words Mikhail Gorbachev used in his campaign for reforms in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev believed these two policies would help impact the corruption in the Soviet Union. HS: Gorbachev used these words to promote revolution and to start democratizing the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords dealt with the Middle Eastern countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Soviets backed Pakistan and the United States backed Afghanistan in case of financial needs. HS: The agreements associated with the Geneva Accords ended Soviet occupation in Afghanistan and a mutual relation and peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan . -
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a giant city plaza in the capital city of Beijing, China. In May of 1989, Chinese workers, students, and other democracy supporters protested in the square. The Communist government responded to crowd with military force, turning the event into a massacre. HS: This showed that the Communist government officials of China fear losing control from rival parties and used their power to stop the riots. -
Berlin Wall is Torn Down
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall was a symbol of new freedom and independence. This was around the time Communists started to lose their power in Germany. HS: This signified the beginning of free people in all of Germany and the decline of communist influence. -
Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was the first and last president of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His reforms for the Soviet Union caused great economic problems and made shortages of supplies and prices increase. He ended up resigning from his position on December 25, 1991. HS: His choices as a leader eventually brought down the powerful Soviet Union. -
Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland
A Polish politician, Lech Walesa was a human rights activist who worked in a shipyard and was persecuted for going against Soviet Union demands. He was in office as president until December 22, 1995. HS: He created Solidarity, a self-sufficient labor union that brought and demanded economic and political change in Poland. -
Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian Federation was in office until December 31, 1999. He was Mikhail Gorbachev's most powerful political opponent. HS: He promised to turn Russia's then socialist command economy into a free market economy. -
End of the USSR
Reforms from the government made economic turmoil, food shortages, and increasing prices tore down the Soviet Union. The Soviet satellites states started to regain independence, and communist influence was being defied. The resignation of Soviet Union leader, Gorbachev, ended the Eastern European Superpower down. HS: The downfall of the USSR marked the end of communist influence in Eastern Europe and allowed former communist-controlled countries a chance at independence. -
Putin
Vladimir Putin was the president of Russia from May 7, 2000 to May 7, 2008. He vowed to end the corruption in Russia and to build his country with a strong economy. Other world powers wondered if his was more autocratic than democratic. HS: He increased the power of the central Russian government but at the toll of the Russian citizen's civil rights.
